Yogi Darren Main asks yoga teachers to reflect on the ethics of being a yoga teacher. Main views ethics as a foundational necessity for any yoga teacher so that they can create a safe space for students to flourish and grow. He believes teachers must root themselves in the Yamas and the Niyamas in order to be a good example for students both on and off the mat.
Take a “stress break” with yoga and dance teacher Hemalayaa. She believes that a better quality of breath will translate into a better quality of life. Participate in a short breathing exercise of bringing your awareness to a deeper breath, and see how this can give you a deeper appreciation for being alive. This is a tool you can take with you and integrate into your daily life for rich relationships and a peaceful sense of self.
Wellness pioneer Hillary Rubin encourages us to stay motivated to make it to the yoga mat — and to practice compassion for ourselves on the days when we don’t. One of her favorite motivators? Dedicating your daily yoga practice to someone or something that inspires you.
Jenny and Jason, co-founders of Acro Yoga, share a story and sing a song about how the great river in India, the Ganga, was created. From the removal of demons to Shiva swallowing the ocean in his dreadlocks, this beautiful story of the life-giving river reminds us that the movement of water is aligned with the movement of breath in the body.
Tommy Rosen is a California-based yoga teacher specializing in yoga for addiction and recovery. He has been on the path of sobriety for more than 20 years now, and he has found that the most powerful tools in healing from addiction are a combination of yoga, meditation and the 12-step recovery program. His biggest take-away for addicts is to reach out to their communities, as he believes that collaboration is the best method for healing. To learn more, visit TommyRosen.com.
Are you at home in your true nature? According to yoga and Ayurveda practitioner Felicia Tomasko, one of the most important things we can do is to stop striving for perfection or trying to be someone else. To do this, we need to be actively compassionate with ourselves by embracing who we are and our uniqueness both on and off the yoga mat. To learn more, visit LAyogaOnline.com.
Does your ego keep following you to your yoga mat, no matter how many times you try to check it at the door? Yoga instructor Jason Crandell encourages us to think it through and consider this in a different way. “We want to invite our ego to come with us so we can see it, understand it and have a relationship with it. Notice and don’t be surprised when ego arises. Practice seeing and witnessing its existence.” For more information, visit JasonYoga.com.
Sound can be used for good, and sound can be used for ill, says Suzanne Sterling, a performing artist known for her joyful chanting at yoga festivals and other gatherings around the world. (Some examples of using sound for good are sonograms or sound waves being used to destroy tumors.) You can harness the power of sound to create healing inside the body. To do that, Sterling says, you must learn to keep sound within the body — to turn your body into a cathedral that resonates harmonic, restorative health.
In the practice of yoga, as in life, it’s the moments when we work together that can inspire the most change in us as individuals. In this clip, Jenny Sauer-Klein, co-founder of AcroYoga, talks about the principle of doing what works. To deal with the inevitable challenges and miscommunications that happen when individuals become partners, we have to leave room for the unexpected. When we let go of assumptions and embrace the discovery of what works best between these two people at this moment, that’s when we allow the relationship — and each other — to grow.
What happens during the transitions between yoga poses — and the transitions in life? Whether you’re moving from one pose to the next or from one life event to the next (a relationship, a job, a city), yoga instructor Bo Forbes says that it is during these transitions that we often feel discomfort or a sense of uncertainty. However, transitions are also pregnant with potential for transformation and change, so we should strive to embrace them — or at least listen to what they are trying to tell us.
So the next time you unroll your yoga mat, try to slow down your practice and lengthen the time between your poses. Really listen to your body and mind during these shifts, because that’s often the space where you can begin to grow.
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by Gaiam Staff | February 18th, 2013 | No Comments
